Failing...
What a stigmatic word ..... Fail ... Failure ....Failing!! It evokes so many emotions right?! Even saying it out loud is sort of like watching a balloon deflate. It's almost guttural, as in it punches you in the gut and that's what comes out. Boooo!
Well, unfortunately that was the most appropriate word to describe my first actual attempt at cold process soap making. Building up to that word that day were, delusions of grandeur, premature patting on the back, then panic omg omg omg no no noooooo shoooooot agh STAAAAHHHP....... fail.
Let's go back to the start of this adventure...
So after many YouTube tutorials, gathering ingredients & equipment and learning how to actually formulate a recipe using a soap/lye calculator, I was so very certain I was ready to make my first loaf of Cold Process Soap. My inner chemist was emerging.
The Delusions Begin
I made my first lye water - quick sidebar lesson - lye (sodium hydroxide) is essential in making soap ..well .....soap. Sodium Hydroxide is an Alkali that reacts with oils and fats in a process called saponification. (so many new big words - super fun) These oils and fats and lye mix together, and then after the loaf is cut the bars harden up the alkali turns into soap - (here endeth the lye lesson). Anyway, I was so proud of myself that I got that part right! This was the scary part, and phew I knocked it out. Yay!
Next was measuring out, heating and combining the oils and butters. It is very important to make sure the temperature of the lye water and the oils are within 10 degrees of each other when combining. I had the temps right, so I mixed them together with the immersion blender woohoo! Then I separated out my mixture and added some pretty purple mica (colorant) to the smaller portion. "This is going to be the prettiest purple swirl soap ever!!"
Here comes the cream pie right in the kisser!
The fragrance oil - *pacing as I am writing this* Ok - deep breath!! Fragrance to me is an absolute must in my soap. I mean It helps determine how your skin will smell after using it, who wouldn't want to add it to their homemade soap?! I thought Lavender was the perfect scent for this pretty purple swirl soap loaf.
So here's the thing about fragrance oil, when added to your mixture it can bring your soap to a whole new level ... or kill it. Fragrance oils are synthetic, and are made with a variety of natural and artificial materials. So when combined with your mixture can either work well and blend in nicely, or (as I discovered) accelerate the saponification (hardening process) and seize.
Instead of purchasing a fragrance through a company that works almost exclusively with soapers, and have tested these fragrances in cold process soap, I used an untested fragrance I had previously used in candles. It should work fine right? Wrong ..... oh so wrong. It started seizing immediately, so fast in fact that I had to pour it into the mold quick, and there was not even a little bit of a chance I would get my pretty swirls. So I had to settle for a shorter than expected (yep my measurements were low as well with this recipe) and had purple chunks instead of pretty swirls. Squaty chunky soap ... not what I had envisioned at all.
P.S. Adding Lavender buds to the top did not make it prettier haha.
Lessons ...
Lesson one - the more research you do, the more you will learn about the process and the materials. Plus watching and learning from seasoned soapers is very inspiring.
Lesson two - only use well tested Fragrance! Mine seized, but others can also become grainy, can discolor your soap (see ugly soap collection that is being added next week), and can also separate your soap.
Lesson three - the more you fail, the closer you are to winning. Don't give up ever! Snoozie Butter is so very young, and will most likely be failing again and again haha, but when that next soap worked out .... boy did we win that day! And we will have more wins as well!
Ok, man that feels good to get that story out haha, it was lengthy so thank you for sticking through it. Here's to getting out those stories, and making more pretty and good smelling products!
Have a great week all, until next Sunday.
xo Margie